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Keeping Your Pet Safe From Holiday Hazards
Copyright 2001. Dumb Friends League. All rights reserved.
Be sure to make this holiday season safe and enjoyable for everyone in your family by observing the following pet safety tips:
If you have a live Christmas tree, keep the water stand covered. Pine sap
mixed with water makes a poisonous drink for your pet. The smell of a live
or artificial tree may cause your pet to urine-mark it. It may help to
bring the tree into an isolated indoor room for a day or so, so that it smells
more like "home."
If you have a cat that is tempted to play with the ornaments on your tree,
decorate the bottom third of the tree with non-breakable, plastic or wooden
ornaments, or decorate only the top two-thirds of your tree.
Keep holiday treats and candies out of your pet's reach. Additionally,
remember wrapped gifts under your tree that may be food items. People food, especially in excess, can make your pet sick. Chocolate, in fact, can be fatal to dogs!
Secure Christmas trees to a wall or ceiling hook with sturdy fishing line.
This will help prevent the tree from toppling over should your pet jump on
it or accidentally knock it over.
If you have indoor holiday lights, be sure they don't hang so low that your
pet could become entangled in them. Remember to unplug the lights when
you're not home to supervise your pet.
If you have a bird, make sure it is safely in its cage if you're lighting
any candles. Additionally, lit candles should be kept out of any pet's
reach, perhaps high on a counter or table.
Poinsettias, mistletoe berries and some other plants and flowers that are
popular during the holidays are poisonous to pets. Check with your
veterinarian or local poison control center to find out what holiday plants
and flowers you need to keep out of your pet's reach.
Housebreaking Tips When housebreaking a puppy, don't leave food out for him all the time -- it makes it much harder to predict when he'll need to go to the bathroom. By having two or three specific feeding times a day, you can get the puppy on an eating and bathroom routine.
Dog kennels or crates are useful in housebreaking. Dogs do not like to soil their immediate surroundings -- especially if confined. Leaving a puppy in a crate for short periods of time (no more than a few hours) will help her learn to wait until bathroom time. It's good to get into a routine of taking a bathroom walk as soon as you take her out of the crate.
Why you should always spay or neuter a domestic pet
Spaying:
In female dogs, heat periods occur twice per year and last about three weeks each time. Female cats may come into heat every 2 or 3 weeks. During heat, cats and dogs will become more irritable and nervous than usual. They may become aggressive, and they can damage furniture. Attacks on people are also common. Female cats will howl and rub excessively.
Spaying permanently eliminates great physical stress, unwanted pregnancies, and ceasarian deliveries of puppies when there are complications. False preganances often become more frequent with age. Mammory tumors, uterine infections, and tumors of the ovaries or uterus are also more frequent in pets that have not been spayed.
Neutering:
Neutering of male dogs reduces roaming by 90%. Before neutering, he will respond to the urge to reproduce, he will become nervous, depressed, unwilling to eat, pick fights with other dogs, and sometimes will not respond to his owner.
Many common problems are reduced or eliminated by neutering including:
- territorial fighting and marking territory;
- wandering and escaping (thus reducing chance of being hit by a car);
- "riding" inappropriate objects;
- prostate enlargement
- prostate tumors and/or infections;
- tumors of the testicles, penis, and anal areas;
- perineal hernias (rupture of the posterior abdominal wall);
- excessive hunger leading to unhealthy weight gain.
By improving your pet's health, spaying/neutering can also increase their lifespan. Best of all, altering is the first step toward preventing homelessness and will allow your pet more opportunities to be a member of your family, an unconditional benefit for everyone!
Check out additional pet tips on www.newpet.com.
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